How to Play with Fantasy Grounds

So, you're on /tg/ or you see a game you'd like to play on the games listing page, but you've never played an online tabletop before. Never fear! This handy little guide should help you to get up and running in no time.

Getting Started

You're going to have to figure out the third item on your own, though there are plenty of massive torrents of D&D and the like on Pirate Bay, as well as select books on /rs/.

Installing Fantasy Grounds

As a paid program, you need to either buy FG or download a pirated copy. You can learn more about this on the VTT page linked above. The necessary steps for installing the cracked FantasyGrounds are as follows. BEFORE YOU START, please note you MUST enter a random string for a key! DO NOT LEAVE IT BLANK!

Download the application.

Unrar/unzip the application into a folder.

Run the installation .exe. (Vista users, install the application to your desktop; installing to a Program Files folder will prevent the crack from functioning. See the note below.) When complete, choose to not run the application and click Finish.

Run the 1.05 patch .exe. (If your .zip does not include this patch, you will need to find a copy which does.)

Move the crack .exe into the folder where you just installed FG and run it.

Run FG. As noted above, when it prompts for a key, enter some gibberish. (This is important! Leaving it blank will cause it to FAIL; more aptly, any other player that also left their key blank will encounter key conflict errors when connecting. Don't use a meme, either, since if someone else enters the same meme, you'll both get stuck. I suggest bashing your face off the keyboard a few times for a truly random string.)

???

Profit

This should get you through the installation process without too much hassle. If you're a Vista user, read on for additional tips from the very helpful BeefStick:

In IRC tonight one of the neckbearded asked me for help getting FG installed. Turns out the guide needs a slight revision for Vista users. Vista's new security system gives the Program Files directory a unique set of permissions which prevent other programs from altering the contents of files inside it. Basically, you can't overwrite a file (Mostly .exe and .dll, but there are several other protected extensions) that's inside your program files directory. Oddly enough, it all works when everything is installed on the DESKTOP in Vista.

Installing Hamachi

Hamachi is a free application, and it works damn well. It's also easy to install, though many people get tripped up on the connection stage.

Essentially, follow the installation steps as you would do normally. When you get to the point where you need to choose a network, take a look at the information provided to you in the game description, chat or thread where you found it. You will be given three items:

The Hamachi server name

The Hamachi server password

The host IP address, usually a 5.x.x.x IP address

The most important step, and the reason I am writing this portion of the tutorial at all: CAPITALIZATION IN THE SERVER NAME IS VITAL. If you fuck it up, Hamachi will tell you the server doesn't exist. Hamachi may also whine at you about the server being full. It is likely telling the truth; free servers can only hold up to 16 people, and offline users are often 'held', taking up precious slots. If this happens to you, just create a new server. As long as the FG server player is connected to any Hamachi network, you can connect via their IP.

Playing with Fantasy Grounds

Connecting

Connect to Hamachi using the specified server and password. Locate the server player in your Hamachi network, right-click their name, and select Copy IP Address. Open FG. Choose to join as a player, and enter the IP of the server (usually 5.x.x.x). The game should connect. Tada!

If you've created a local character, you can use that when you connect. Otherwise, you'll see a list of available characters on the server. Choose an existing character if you have one, or the topmost item to make a new character. Normal text, actions and emotes will print with your character name; OOC will print your character name and your player name.

Communication

There are a number of ways to talk in FG, most of which change the color or presentation of your chat text. The big box to the left when you first start is the chat window. To start talking, click on the bar at the bottom and type into it. Depending on what keys you hold when you hit Enter or click Send, the format of your text will change like so:

No Keys Held: Black text: Chat. This is regular typing. Most commonly, it's used for in-character speech, but that may depend on your gaming group.

Alt Held: Green text: OOC. This is for specifically out-of-character comments. For example, if you're announcing you'd like to make a Spot check, you would do so OOC. This prints both your player name and your character name.

Ctrl Held: Red text: Action. This is for specific in-character actions. For example, "I grapple the troll!" It's also used for in-character speech, if you want to positively identify it as such.

Ctrl+Shift Held: Red text: Emote. This is for specific in-character actions. Unlike Action, which prints the text as "User: text", this prints simply "User text", e.g. "grapples the troll!" would print as "Dirk grapples the troll!"